11,000 Pinoy veterans applied for $9,000 lump sum benefit from US

MANILA, Philippines - Over 11,000 Filipino war veterans based in the Philippines have already applied for their $9,000 lump sum benefit from the United States government, almost a month after the processing of the claims started, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported yesterday.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said that as of yesterday, the DSWD has assisted a total of 11,278 war veterans who applied for their benefits from various Fast Track Centers nationwide.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier estimated the number of surviving Filipino veterans at 20,000, with 13,000 of them based in the Philippines.

The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) had established Fast Track Centers upon the instruction of President Arroyo to spare the veterans, many of whom are old and weak and already in their 80s, from the “physical torture and cost” of going to Manila.

Cabral said her agency provided the Fast Track Centers with wheelchairs and one set of crutches, as well as tents, folding beds, chairs and tables and assorted biscuits and bottled water for the veterans.

The Fast Track Centers are located in San Fernando, La Union; Tuguegarao; as well as in the cities of San Fernando, Pampanga; Batangas; Legazpi; Iloilo; Cebu; Tacloban; Zamboanga; Davao; Cagayan de Oro and Baguio.

US President Barack Obama had approved a $198 million compensation package for Filipino World War II veterans.

More than 250,000 Filipinos served alongside US soldiers to defend the Philippines from the 1941 Japanese invasion and resist the subsequent Japanese occupation.